ceiling vent dripping

Jon_M · Dec 19, 2011

Hello All,

Ok heres the situation, We had an Enviro EF2I installed at the beginning of the month,, Absolutely love it. my 1200sqft ranch with no cellar, built on a cement slab has never felt warmer.

Until this morning, I did not pay attention to the weather forecast and left my stove on low all night and the oil furnace (forced hot air) kicked on this morning. It is set for 64* as a back up.

A little while later I was ready for work. I went to put my boots on and they are wet,,, I look up and theres water dripping from the ceiling vent. Based on a quick search on Hearth and google I believe what is happening is that nice warm air from the stove is going up in the ductwork in in my unfinished attic, and last night was cold enough for it to condense and then when the furnace kicked on it pushed the water out from the vent.

One thought I had is to run just the furnace fan(no heat) a couple of times a day? or will this just add more warm air in the ductwork and make things worse?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Regards,

Jon

pen · Dec 19, 2011

Is the duct work insulated?

pen

RPK1 · Dec 19, 2011

I think you are right. Sounds like condensation from cold duct work and warm moist woodstove heated air. Consider insulating all the ducts in the attic to at least R-8. You may be able to run just the fan to circulate the heat from the wood stove through out the house.

RPK1

Jon_M · Dec 20, 2011

pen said:
Is the duct work insulated?

pen

I ventured into my attic last night and this is what i found

1. the aluminum duct-work is not insulated nor are any of the connections taped/sealed.

2. There was an overall feeling of dampness in the attic.

3. did not seem to have a lot of air movement. There are 2 Gable vents and a whirly-bird about 3/4 of the way up on the back roof near the middle of the house.

4. There is 1/2 inch wide and about 12ft long section of the roof along the peak that the plywood does not reach. There were water droplets along that section.

At this point it seems that the next course of action will be to cut some soffit vents to help increase airflow and work on insulating or replacing that duct-work.

Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Regards,

Jon

fevest · Dec 20, 2011

Your roof venting isn't doing its job. That is not good, you can rot out your roof plywood.

RPK1 · Dec 20, 2011

How much insuation is in the attic? You may want to increase the amount. You must insulate the duct work. There may or may not be a vapor barrier on the warm side of the insulation?? You need to stop the heat loss from the living space into the cold attic. That is what is causing the condensation. Then consider re working the attic space ventalation. Such as a soffitt and ridge vent system or larger gable vents and soffitt vents. I can help you with that when you get to that point. Google search "attic ventalation" it will help you get a better understanding of what is happening in you attic.

RPK1

mepellet · Dec 20, 2011

Jon_M said:
pen said:

Is the duct work insulated?

pen

Click to expand...

I ventured into my attic last night and this is what i found

1. the aluminum duct-work is not insulated nor are any of the connections taped/sealed.

2. There was an overall feeling of dampness in the attic.

3. did not seem to have a lot of air movement. There are 2 Gable vents and a whirly-bird about 3/4 of the way up on the back roof near the middle of the house.

4. There is 1/2 inch wide and about 12ft long section of the roof along the peak that the plywood does not reach. There were water droplets along that section.

At this point it seems that the next course of action will be to cut some soffit vents to help increase airflow and work on insulating or replacing that duct-work.

Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Regards,

Jon

After installing soffit vents you should consider blocking up either the gable vent or the turbine ventilator. Typically you should have soffit vents and one high vent but not 2 high vents to promote better ventilation.

Salty · Dec 20, 2011

I just sent you an email Jon.

This was a problem in my house. It's being caused by two things. Insufficient air flow in your attic, and insufficient air sealing and insulation.

Black Mildew on the roof interior is a tip off. As warm air rises it condensates and freezes/thaws. Very bad for the attic.

As said earlier...block up the gable ends. Those are inefficient and a waste of time. So is the whirlybird.

Install a ridge vent the entire length of your roof. Get a competent roofer to cut the sheathing properly and install if you can't do it.

Install soffit vents in every rafter bay or a continuous soffit vent. This can be done easily also.

Install propa vents in each bay

Air seal your attic. Then figure out how good your insulation is. It's probably not enough.

You will eliminate all air problems by doing this.

heat seeker · Dec 20, 2011

Check for a vapor barrier between the insulation and the ceiling below. Moisture is getting into the attic.

The previous owner of I house I had installed the insulation upside down, so that the vapor barrier was above the insulation. In addition, he stapled the vapor barrier to the joists about every 2 inches. It took me forever to pull the staples without tearing the barrier and flip the insulation over the right way. When I asked him why he did that, he said that it looked better that way!
The area over the bathroom was all moldy, damp, and nasty. Takes all kinds, I guess.

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ceiling vent dripping

Jon_M

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RPK1

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Jon_M

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mepellet

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